Petra Holmberg

I am a postdoc of European law, specialising in Health law. I am working within the Health Law Research Centre. My research project concerns new eHealth technologies and its regulation on the European union level in the ethical context of the patients’ rights.

I defended my PhD thesis in 2020 at the University of Toulouse in France and at Charles University in Prague. I studied at the Department of European Law and my dissertation focused on legislative development in the field of telemedicine. My thesis was exactly devoted to the European cross-border provision of telemedicine services in the framework of a comparison of the Czech and French healthcare systems. I examined not only the Czech and French health care system, but especially compliance with European legislation and the lack of clarity. I was interested of both: technical issues regarding the interoperability of the system and the security of the technologies used, as well as on ethical issues regarding the protection of privacy and sensitive data.

Since 2019, I have been involved in the preparation of European legislation in the European Parliament. My main focus consisted in the food security concerning pesticides, GMO but also residues of pesticides in the nutrition. I was preparing the revision of Common agriculture policy.

My research project is part of a European interdisciplinary program EUGHLORIA. I am focusing on the development of the new eHealth technologies in relation with patients’ rights and actual European legislation. The health applications and the online platforms during covid pandemic experienced quick development. However, legislation in many Member States has lagged behind. I will examine whether this too rapid technological development is not in a legal or ethical conflict with the patient's rights.